By Kerry Steinhofer, Copy Editor
With each new year comes new resolutions. Of course, you see the ones people seem to make yearly, which include trying to lose a few extra pounds, gain financial stability, find a better job and many more. In the Christian sphere, there are resolutions like reading the Bible every day, praying five times a day, reading devotionals, going to church three days a week and so on.
While none of these resolutions mentioned are bad, I like to try to stay away from resolutions and themes set around those goals. While the resolution list starts to become full of goals about wanting to be better, healthier and more accomplished, we start forgetting to seek God and ask Him to show us His plan for us for the new year. And let’s be honest, these resolutions don’t last more than a few weeks anyway.
I like to think of the new year as a new spiritual beginning. My resolution every year is to find out what God has for me for the year, letting Him speak words and themes that reflect His plan, not mine. I see each new year as a journey; one that the Lord has prepared in advance for me to experience a new impartation of his grace and love.
I would love to see every Christian have this resolution every year. Being a Christian isn’t just about going to church, reading the Bible and praying. There is so much more to being a Christian than having these goals that usually fall through after a while. We get busy and life happens.
The way I see it is, as believers and as a body of Christ, we were created to follow Him and follow His plan for our lives. You can make resolutions to read and study more of His word, pray every time you’re not busy and several other things, but I think that kind of devotion comes when you follow Him.
They new year creates a space for you to look at your life from a spiritual perspective. I believe the most important question you could ask yourself in the new year is, what does God want you to do this year? What is His will for you this year? When you ask these questions, it’s important to remember that this is a new year and possibly a completely new season. Leave the past in the past.
Isaiah 43:18-19 states, “Do not remember the former things, or ponder the things of the past. Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
The new year is called the new year for a reason, it’s a fresh start. It’s a new spiritual beginning.
The first resolution that should made after asking these questions and leaving the past behind, is to be obedient and faithful to God. Listen to Him. Follow His plan for your entire life. When you’re following God and being obedient to Him, you begin to get hungrier for Him, which will give you the deep desire to dig deeper into His word, be in constant conversation with Him and be in fellowship with other believers.
When these start to become reality, you will become new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) You will begin to have a whole new understand of God’s purpose. You will receive and accept more of His love. He will continue to pour into you because it is something you truly desire.